ASM: No welcome mat for Sarries
ASM Clermont Auvergne are in the European Cup Pool One quarterfinal qualification driving seat, but Benjamin Kayser insists they still have it all to do against Saracens at Stade Marcel-Michelin in their final group showdown.
Clermont were given a real battle by Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell Stadium in a contest in which the lead changed hands five times, before finishing strongly for a 22-13 win and the four points.
The 2013 finalists have a one-point advantage over Saracens in the pool standings, but the French hooker insists that it could still all go wrong.
"If we lose next weekend we are going out – or chasing one of the three qualifying runners-up spots," said Kayser.
"The Saracens game is going to be massive – everyone has been talking about our back-to-back wins over Munster, but they will not matter if we lose to Saracens and end up in second place in the Pool.
"We are going to have to be very careful. We had a very difficult game against them in Round One and they have just had a fantastic result in dominating Munster.
"We are not even speaking about a home quarterfinal, first things first, let us do what we have to do to get through in our group. Given the teams in our Pool it will be a brilliant performance merely to reach the quarterfinals."
Clermont won 22-13 on the road at Sale Sharks but they needed to finish strongly to get the points against a battling Sharks side.
"We know that English sides never give up and that is because they have such respect for the Champions Cup. They are always difficult to play against, especially at home
"They always give it their absolute best and that is exactly what Sale did. The scoreline was very flattering for us when we met in Clermont and we knew this was going to be a tough test.
"At half-time we knew we had left a few scoring opportunities out on the field and I was just hoping we had not let the game pass us by.
"During the week we talked about the strength of Sale's driving maul and when we lost a few payers to the sin bin we thought we could be in trouble but we kept our composure and did not panic when we had that second yellow.
"The leaders in the team kept us together and we played simple rugby – it was sloppy, disgusting but so important."
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